London, June 22 (ANI): Dame Helen Mirren has praised pop stars Lady Gaga and Miley Cyrus, insisting she is “thrilled” that young girls are embracing their sexuality.

Mirren admitted that she struggled to use her own sexuality as power in her early career, until her outrageous role in movies like 1969’s Age of Consent - in which she exposed as the teenage muse of an older painter.

“I much prefer overt sexuality to sleazy, vulgar prurience… I was kind of a trailblazer because I demanded to do it my own way. I’d say, ‘I’m not having it put on me by someone else…,” the Daily Express quoted her as telling New York Magazine.

“I’m thrilled young girls are claiming their sexuality for themselves. I love bold women: Madonna and Scarlett Johansson - sexy and gorgeous, but not only that. And Miley Cyrus - fantastic! And Lady Gaga. I love the way she’s elevated pop to performance art, or dragged performance art down to pop, or maybe made a wonderful amalgam of the two,” she added. (ANI)